A magnificent sammelband, bound in alum-tawed pigskin over beveled wooden boards, lacking one clasp. Binding soiled and with slight wear but still very fine. The boards are ruled and tooled in blind with medallion portrait heads and Biblical figures. The text of all four volumes is in excellent condition. There is one small tear to the lower corner of leaf B2, with loss of a few letters. One of the birds in the first work has been nicely colored by a 16th c.
Large map: etching, engraving, and drypoint on three attached sheets of heavy laid paper. Image size (from plate mark): 121.2 x 71.1 cm. Sheet size: 132.1 x 82.1 cm.
$12,500.00
Piranesi’s map extends the area covered by the Nolli plan as far north as the Ponte Milvio. Piranesi has made the important innovation of identifying 402 archaeologically important sites, keyed to his own works on ancient Rome.
"By the mid-1770's, at the height of his career, Piranesi had produced a comprehensive record of ancient and modern Rome in the form of the well over a hundred plates of the ‘Vedute di Roma’.
Contents: The books of the Bible and prologues are very close to the standard Paris sequence (f.1), omitting Psalms, and with a capitula list for Genesis; the Interpretations of Hebrew Names in the version from Aaz to Zuzim (f.167), alphabetised to the first two letters; preceded by added notes on the four types of biblical exposition (historical, tropological, anagogical, typological) and the seven rules of theology (f.
Folio: 33.5 x 22 cm. 56 leaves, early manuscript foliation: 1-19, 44, 56-81.
$19,500.00
A fascinating documentary overview of the 12-year business relationship between the founder Carlo Camozzi of Bergamo and the Republic of Venice, relating to the production of cannons and ammunition and the logistical organisation of the new 'Fabrica de' Cannoni di Ferro'.
Content: 44 documents concerning the production of cannons and arms for the Republic of Venice from 8 June 1712 to 9 August 1724, including stipulations governing the agreement between the Proveditors of the Venetian Arsenals and Giovanni Camozzi of Bergamo, specifying quantities of cannons and ammunition to be produced over a 12-year period, the testing of said cannons in Brescia, quality control, the building of the 'Fabrica', and remuneration (ff.
Theo Gerardy in Gutenberg Jahrbuch articles of 1971, 1973 and 1980 showed that the Galliziani and Tower/Crown paper stocks in the Catholicon did not exist in 1460 and therefore suggested a date in the late 1460s for the edition as a whole. This dating of all three issues to c. 1469 was later taken up by Lotte Hellinga, who added numerous details and arguments to support it in a wide-ranging investigation of typographical evidence in the Catholicon and textual evidence in the 4° Aquinas (see Gutenberg Jahrbuch1989, 1990, 1991, Bulletin du Bibliophile 1991, The Book Collector 1992, Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens 1993).
HC *2254; GW 3182(3); BMC I, 39 (IC. 303); Goff B-20; CIBN B-13 (II); De Ricci, Mayence 90.71 (one of two "exemplaires disparus"). BMC assigns letters to the collation: a-f10, g4, h-t10, v4+1, A-S10, T4. On the Polling provenance, see Richard van Dülmen, “Aufklärung und Reform in Bayern, I. Das Tagebuch des Pollinger Prälaten Franz Töpsl (1744–1752) und seine Korrespondenz mit Gerhoh Steigenberger (1763–1768),” in Zeitschrift für Bayerische Landesgeschichte(ZBLG, 1969) 32 (1969), p. 733, letter of 7 January 1766 to Steigenberger [attached]; and Aretin, Neunter Brief, in Beyträge zur Geschichte und Literatur, vorzüglich aus den Schätzen der Königl. Hof- und Centralbibliothek zu München. I (Munich: Lindauer, 1803), 89
"And yet why should it be thought marvelous for a virgin to conceive, when it is well known that the Phoenix is in such wise born, or born again, without the intervention of a mate?" - Rufinus' Apologia for the Virgin Birth
Chancery quarto in half sheets: 20.6 x 14 cm., 30 leaves. Collation: a-c8, d6 (leaf d6 blank and present). 2a: 27 lines, 146 x 85 mm. Type 96 (108) Voulliéme 1057. Hain *8578.
$15,500.00
"Tyrannius Rufinus is chiefly known from his relation to Jerome, first as an intimate friend and afterwards as a bitter enemy. Like Jerome, he departed from Italy to live in the East. For many years he lived in monasteries in Egypt and in Palestine, acquiring the learning of the Eastern churches. Towards the end of his life he returned to Italy and occupied himself in translating works of the earlier Greek Fathers into Latin.
[Strasbourg: Heinrich Knoblochtzer?], not after 1479
Royal folio: 39.3 x 29.3 cm. 238 lvs. Collation: a8, b-f10, g6, h-k10, l6 m-r10, s8, t-z10, A-B10 (Complete with blank lvs. 1 and 188).
$28,000.00
FIRST EDITION of Jordan of Quedlinburg's important "Sermons on the Saints", his last collection of sermons, composed between 1365 and 1380. For a thorough discussion of Jordan's synthesis of Aristotelian physics and Augustinian theology, see Saak, Luther and the Reformation of the Later Middle Ages, p. 50 ff., where the "Sermons on the Saints" are discussed in detail.
Chancery folio: 28.5 x 21.3 cm. 166 leaves ([9], ii-clvii, [1]), with the final blank. Collation (assigned by BMC): *8, a-g10, h-o10, p8, q10. Heading of four leaves printed in red and black, with large woodcut initials, two leaves with full-page woodcuts.
$36,000.00
Rare. This edition is represented in North America by a single copy (Rosenwald Collection). There are3 copies of the 1476 edition in North America (Morgan, Newberry, Chapel Hill), and no copy of the 1487 third edition.
Johannes Bämler was an Augsburg scribe, rubricator, printer and bookseller, known for his illustrated books, which included the Buch von den Sieben Todsünden und den Sieben Tugenden (1474) and the Buch der Natur (1475).
Median folio: 31.5 x 21.5 cm. 325 of 326 lvs. (lacks 1st blank leaf). Collation (supplied by BMC): *10, a-z8, A-P8, Q-R6.
$12,000.00
213 sermons on the Ten Commandments by the Dutch mystic Hendrik Herp, whose writings had a profound impact on later mystical writers, including Francisco de Osuna, who in turn influenced St. Teresa of Jesus.
From 1445, Herpf was a rector of the Brothers of the Common Life in Delft and, later, in Gouda, where he encouraged book production in particular. In 1450, on a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the Franciscan Observance (the Capuchin reform) at the Convent of Ara Coeli.
Strasbourg: Printer of the 1481 Legenda aurea, 22 March 1482
Folio: 29.2 x 21.8 cm. 274 unsigned leaves. [A-C]8, [D]10; [a-m]8, [n]6,[o-z]8, [aa-ff]8, [gg]10. Complete with the initial and final blanks.
$35,000.00
The arrival of printed books is so often regarded as one of the inaugural moments of the renaissance that it is sometimes forgotten that the first years of print also represented the last great flowering of the Middle Ages. The “Lumen Anime” (Light of the Soul), is testament to that. Formerly attributed to the Carmelite friar Mathias Farinator of Vienna (who compiled the index), the “Lumen Anime” is now known to be Berenger of Landorra, General of the Dominican order and archbishop of Campostella from 1317 to 1325.
BMC I, 97; Hain-Copinger 10333*; Goff L-396; Proctor 413; Polain 1468; Wellcome I, 2175; Klebs 631.3; Thorndyke III, 546ff. Sources: Mary A. and Richard H. Rouse, ‘The Texts called Lumen Anime,’ Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 41 (Rome, 1971), 5-113; N.R. Ker, Records of All Soul’s College Library. 1437-1600 (Oxford, 1971), 27.
The First Printed Illustrations of the Constellations
Quarto: 20 x 14.6 cm. Collation: a-f8 g10 (a1 blank, a2r dedication to M. Fabius [Quintilianus?], a3r text, g9r commendatory poem by Jacobus Sentinus, g10r poem and verse colophon by Johannes Santritter, g10v blank). 58 leaves. 31 lines. Types 3:91G (text), 7:92G (heading on a2r), 91 Gk (a few words). Title on a2r printed in red, 11-, 7-, 5- and 3-line white-on-black woodcut initials. 47 half-page woodcuts, probably designed by Johannes Santritter, of the constellation and planet figures.
$45,000.00
FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION of Hyginus’ “Poeticon Astronomicon”, illustrated with 47 half-page woodcuts of the constellations and the planets personified. The text is set in a pleasing Gothic. The text of Hyginus was first published in an unillustrated edition at Ferrara in 1475.
The “Poeticon Astronomicon” (more correctly, the “Astronomica”) is an ancient Roman work on the constellations chiefly based on the work of the Greek scientist Eratosthenes (3rd c.
Quarto: 19.5 x 14.3 cm. 60 lvs. Collation: a-g8, h4. 30-31 lines, Gothic type
$38,000.00
A fine copy of Erhard Ratdolt’s beautiful printing of Sacrobosco’s “Sphere”, the core astronomical textbook from the Middle Ages to the early 16th century. This edition is the first to include key texts by two of the most influential 15th c. astronomers: Johannes Regiomontanus and Georg Peurbach.
Working in the vein of the Renaissance humanists, Peurbach and his student Regiomontanus sought out the extant scientific writings of antiquity, the classical foundations of medieval European and Arabic science.
Chancery folio: 2 parts in one volume. 30 x 21 cm. [208] lvs. Collation: [*]10, a-b8, c-d6, e-h6.8, i8, k-n6.8, o-t8, v6; A-B8, C-F6.8, G8
$24,000.00
Johannes Cassianus is an elusive and remarkable figure. As a young man, he lived as a monk in Palestine for about three years, before venturing on to Egypt. While it is unclear how much time Cassian spent in Egypt, he learned a great deal about the Egyptian monastic tradition. He would later use the Egyptian monastic model as a blueprint when forming his own community in Gaul, and would incorporate the philosophy of the Egyptian monks in his major writings.
Chancery folio: 26.5 x 19 cm. 206 leaves. [*]4, a-z/8.10. 7a 33 lines and foliation, 199 (207) x 119 mm. Types 147 and 121.
$18,000.00
The sole 15thc. edition of Humbert of Romans' important explication of the Rule of St. Augustine, "Expositio regulae beati Augustini Episcopi". The Latin original was not printed until the 16thc. and this is apparently the onlyedition of the German translation. According to ISTC, "current research suggests the Dominican Georg Falder-Pistoris (d. 29.XII.1452) or Johannes Meyer (d.
Venice: Bonetus Locatellus for Octavianus Scotus, 20 February 1488/ 1489
Median quarto: 24 x 18 cm. a10, A-Z8, AA-PP8. Complete. Without the initial (a1) and final (PP8) blanks.
$16,000.00
A very fine copy of these Lenten sermons by Ambrosius Spiera, a Servite theologian born in Treviso near Venice around 1413. Spiera studied rhetoric, poetry, and music under his father, Bartolomeo, head of Treviso's public gymnasium. At 16 he became a novice in the Servite order at Treviso, at the monastery of St. Catherine the Virgin. At the end of his novitiate, around 1430, he went to study at Perugia, where he met St.
Sole edition of this sermon, preached during the convocation of the Franciscans at Bologna in 1494. The author was Franciscan Provincial and lector of theology at Bologna. Very rare. Bryn Mawr and Yale only in North America.
[Strasbourg: Printer of the 1483 Jordanus de Quedlinburg (Georg Husner), or Johann (Reinhard) Grüninger, or Printer of Hemmerlin (Wilhelm Schaffener?),] after 13 August 1497
Chancery folio: 27 x 19.5 cm. π4, a-z6, aa-gg6. Complete with the blank leaves π4 and gg6)
$24,000.00
Felix Hemmerlin (also known under his Latin name Malleotus), was a Swiss scholar and adherent of the reform party at the Councils of Constance (1414-1418) and Basel (1431-1449). This collection of his works was edited by the Nuremberg humanist Sebastian Brant.
Hemmerlin is well known to historians of witchcraft and demonology, and this collection includes his four works on spells, witches, demons, and exorcism: 1.
Strasbourg: Johann Reinhard, called Grüninger, 12 March, 1498
Folio: 298 x 222 mm. Collation: [*]6, A-V6, X-Z6, AA-II6, KK-LL8; [**]6
$60,000.00
This copy is partially rubricated and is annotated, in Latin, throughout in at least two contemporary hands. The early annotations are intact, having been spared by the binder’s knife, and consist of metrical notations, citations from other authors, and comments. There are also two glosses in Greek (leaves S6v and FF1r) as well as an apparent note in German (leaf FF6). An added manuscript index for the “Epistolae” is bound after the final text leaf.
Hain 8898; Goff H 461; BMC I, 112; Polain 1989; Proctor 485; Walsh 182; Fairfax Murray (German) 205; Rosenwald Collection 188; Dibdin, Bibl. Spenceriana II, 87-95. For Grüninger, his illustrated books, and Locher’s edition of Horace, see Mark Morford, Johann Grüninger of Strasbourg in “Syntagmatia: Essays on Neo-Latin Literature in Honour of Monique Mund-Dopchie and Gilbert Tournoy (Humanistica Lovaniensia, XXVI) 2009
Praised by Copernicus in Book I of the ‘De Revolutionibus’ for Capella’s Model of Heliocentric Orbits
Hyginus, C. Julius (1st century A.D.); Aratus, of Soli. (c. 315-c. 245 B.C.); Proclus Diadochus (ca. 410-484)
Fabularum Liber, Ad Omnium Poetarum Lectionem Mire necessarius, & nunc denuo excusus: Eiusdem Poeticon Astronomicon Libri quatuor. Quibus accesserunt similis argumenti, Palaephati de fabulosis narrationibus, Liber I.
I. Goff C-118; Hain 4371*; Klebs 668.2; Smith (Rara Arithmetica) p. 67; Pell 3225; IGI 2427; Pr 7215; BMC VII 1068 (IB 31860). II. Wellcome I, 3377; Zinner 1592
The Grüninger Vergil –The First Illustrated Edition - An Annotated Copy in Original Pigskin
Folio: 30 x 21.5 cm. A6, B-G8, HH+1, I-S8, T-V10, X-Z8; AA-VV8, XX6, YY-ZZ8, a-f8, aa-cc8, dd10
$55,000.00
The book, edited by Sebastian Brant, is extraordinary in the number and variety of its illustrations. “Grüninger’s artist applied to the work a skilled hand and a lively imagination."(Mortimer) There are 143 illustrations in the "Aeneid", 10 in the "Eclogues", 39 in the "Georgics", and 21 for the shorter and spurious poems. Another full-page woodcut graces the title page.
